Download A New Topology for Multilevel Current Source Converters Ebrahim Babaei Seyed Hossein Hosseini

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ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.4, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2006
A New Topology for Multilevel Current
Source Converters
Ebrahim Babaei1 ,
Seyed Hossein Hosseini2 , and Gevorg B. Gharehpetian3 , Non-members
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a new topology for multilevel
current source converters. The new converter uses
parallel connections of full-bridge cells. Four different methods have been presented for the calculation
of the levels in each bridge. These methods provide more flexibility for designers and can generate
a large number of levels (odd and even). Also by
adding or removing the full-bridge cells, modularized
circuit layout and packaging is possible, where the
number of output current levels can also be easily
adjusted. Using enough levels, the multilevel current
converter generates approximately sinusoidal output
current with very low harmonic distortion. Based on
this converter a shunt active filter has been modeled.
The simulation results of the proposed shunt active
filter and the traditional shunt filters (which are based
on PWM convectors) show that the suggested filter is
better than the traditional filter in distribution systems.
Keywords: Multilevel Converter, Matrix Converter,
Shunt Active Power Filter, Power Quality
1. INTRODUCTION
Recently multilevel power conversion technology
has been a very rapidly growing area of power electronics with good potential for further developments.
The most attractive applications of this technology
are in the medium to high-voltage range [1]. Multilevel converters work more like amplitude modulation
rather than pulse modulation, and as a result:
• Each device in a multilevel converter has a much
lower dv/dt
• The outputs of the converter have almost perfect
currents with very good voltage waveforms because
the undesirable harmonics can be removed easily,
• The bridges of each converter work at a very low
switching frequency and low speed semiconductors
can be used and
Manuscript received on July 15, 2005 ; revised on November
1, 2005.
The authors are with 1,2 Faculty of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, IRAN
3 Electrical Engineering Department, Amirkbir University of
Technology, Tehran, IRAN
Email:[email protected],[email protected] and [email protected]
Switching losses are very low [2].
The general function of the multilevel converter
is to synthesize a desired output voltage from several levels of DC voltages as inputs. The DC voltage sources are available from batteries, capacitors,
or fuel cells. There are three types of multilevel converters:
• Diode-Clamped Multilevel Converter
• Flying-Capacitor Multilevel Converter
• Cascaded-Converters with Separated DC Sources
The first practical multilevel topology is the diodeclamped multilevel converter topology and first introduced by Nabae in 1980 [3]. The converter uses
capacitors in series to divide the DC bus voltage
into a set of voltage levels. To produceN levels of
the phase voltage, an N −level diode-clamp converter
needs N − 1 capacitors on the DC bus. The flyingcapacitor multilevel converter proposed by Meynard
and Foch in 1992 [4], [5]. The converter uses a ladder
structure of the DC side capacitors where the voltage on each capacitor differs from that of the next
capacitor. To generateN −level staircase output voltage, N − 1 capacitors in the DC bus are needed.
Each phase-leg has an identical structure. The size
of the voltage increment between two capacitors determines the size of the voltage levels in the output waveform. The last structure introduced in the
paper is a multilevel converter, which uses cascade
converters with separate DC sources and first used
for plasma stabilization [6], it was then extended for
three-phase applications [7]. The multilevel converter
using cascaded-converter with separate DC sources
synthesizes a desired voltage from several independent sources of DC voltage. A primary advantage
of this topology is that it provides the flexibility to
increase the number of levels without introducing
complexity into the power stage. Also, this topology requires the same number of primary switches
as the diode-clamped topology, but does not require
the clamping diode. However, this configuration uses
multiple dedicated DC-busses and often a complicated and expensive line transformer, which makes
this a rather expensive solution. In addition, bidirectional operation is somewhat difficult (although
not impossible) to achieve [8]. Modularized circuit
layout and packaging is possible because each level
has the same structure, and there are no extra clamping diodes or voltage balancing capacitor. The num•
A New Topology for Multilevel Current Source Converters
ber of output voltage levels can be adjusted by adding
or removing the full-bridge cells.
The converters that were focused upon were voltage source converters, with multilevel voltage waveforms. These converters divide the total input voltage
among a number switches, and allow a reduction of
the voltage harmonics. As mentioned, these are the
most commonly used and best-understood multilevel
converters. The most multilevel converters discussed
in the literature are multilevel voltage source converters [9]. However, in many current applications,
such as shunt active filters, active power line conditioners, VAR compensations etc., we need to use
multilevel current converters. This paper presents a
new multilevel current converter, and introduces four
different algorithms for obtaining the levels of current sources in each bridges of the multilevel current
source. Then the proposed multilevel current source
converter is the core of a shunt active filter, which is
obtained based on this converter. The proposed new
multilevel current converter consists of a set of parallel single-phase full-bridge converter units. The AC
current output of each levels full-bridge converter is
connected in parallel such that the synthesized current waveform is the sum of the converter outputs.
In other words, for high current applications, many
switches can be placed in parallel, with their current
summed by inductors.
2. DEFINITIONS
In this section, a definition of elements that are
required for constituting the multilevel is presented.
Any power electronic converter can be viewed as a
matrix of switches, which connects its input nodes to
its output nodes. These nodes may be either DC or
AC, and either inductive or capacitive; and the power
flow may be in either direction. Some basic laws of
electricity enforce two obvious restrictions:
• If one set of nodes (input or output) is inductive,
the other set must be capacitive, so as not to create a
cut set of voltage or current sources when the switches
are closed.
• The combination of open and closed switches
should never open circuit an inductor, or short circuit a capacitor.
The converters are generally broken into a number
of subsets. The term rectifier is used when the power
flow is predominately from the AC port to the DC
port and the term inverter is used when power flow
is predominately from the DC port to the AC port.
The term converter is used either when there is no
predominant direction of power flow or as a general
term to encompass both rectifiers and inverters. In
a voltage source converter, the DC port is the capacitive port and voltage stiff (i.e. a large DC bus
capacitor). The voltages in such a converter are well
defined by this port and are generally considered independent of the converters operation. The value of
3
the AC side inductance is comparatively small and
modulation of the converter controls the AC side inductor currents. The voltage source converter should
be responsible for the control of the DC bus capacitor
voltage, and then the voltage is indirectly controlled
by controlling the net current flow in the capacitor.
The switches in such a converter must block a unidirectional voltage, but be able to conduct current in
either direction if bidirectional power flow is desired
(Fig. 1).
Fig.1: A Voltage Source Rectifier-Inverter Cascade
In a current source converter, the DC port is inductive and current stiff. The current in this port is
well defined and slow to change. The voltage (particularly at the AC port) is considered the variable directly controlled by the converter modulation. Since
the AC port usually has significant line or load inductance, line to line capacitors must be placed on
the AC port. The switches must block either voltage
polarity, but are only required to conduct current in
one direction (Fig. 2).
Fig.2: A Current Source Rectifier-Inverter Cascade
Some converters do not easily fall, or cannot be
placed into either category. The matrix or Venturini
converter [10] is one example (Fig. 3). Both input
and output ports are AC, and the definition of voltage stiff or current stiff (and hence voltage or current
source) becomes somewhat arbitrary. Both input and
output ports are AC, and neither port can be considered as a steady dc source, whether voltage or current.
The next refinement is to define the meaning of
multilevel. The following definition of a multilevel
converter is offered [9]:
A multilevel converter can switch either its input
or output nodes (or both) between multiple (more than
two) levels of voltage or current.
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ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.4, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2006
Fig.3: The Matrix Converter, with One Possible
Implementation of the Bidirectional Switches
The term two-level will be used where it is necessary to refer specifically to a converter, which is
not multilevel. For example, the multi-phase matrix converter (Fig. 3) is, strictly speaking, a multilevel converter, according to this definition. Consider
the three-phase to three-phase matrix converter, with
voltage source inputs and an inductive load. Any single output can be switched to one of three different
voltage levels (the voltages of the three input phases)
and similarly, any input can be switched to one of
four current levels (including zero). In this example,
both the input and the output nodes are AC periodic
varying quantities and so these levels can only be considered stationary for an interval much shorter than
their AC period. Both the voltage source and current
source converters can be derived from the general matrix converter by setting one port to be either a two
terminal DC voltage stiff or DC current stiff port [11].
Note that now one of the ports has been made DC
and voltage or current stiff, only one port will experience the multilevel stepped waveforms. The other
will still have a continuous waveform similar to that
of an equivalent two level converter.
The traditional understanding of what constitutes
a multilevel converter follows this more narrow definition. One of the ports has multiple (more than
two) voltage or current stiff DC nodes or terminals,
while the second port has a conventional single or
three phase set of terminals which are switched to
these multiple levels.
Most multilevel converters discussed in the literature step between multiple voltage levels. This is
usually the most useful configuration for a high power
converter, as reducing conduction losses in both converter and machines will always favor increasing the
voltage rating rather than the current rating of the
converter. Also as power levels increase, the input
and output voltage levels presented to the converter
increase. The structure of these multilevel converters places the switches in series to share the duty of
blocking these higher voltages.
Equally, however, for high current applications,
many switches can be placed in parallel, with their
current summed by inductors. When switched separately, multilevel current waveforms result. It is also
possible to create completely new converter topologies based on the concept of circuit duals. The capacitive port sees a multilevel current waveform. All
switches experience and must withstand the total
converter input voltage. If the capacitive port were
an AC port and the inductive port current stiff and
DC, then this would be classified as a current source,
multilevel current converter. For example, the flying
capacitor converter (a multilevel voltage converter)
and its dual as a flying inductor converter (a multilevel current converter) are shown in Figs. 4 and 5,
respectively.
Fig.4: The Flying Capacitor Converter- A Multilevel Voltage Converter
Fig.5: A Dual Derived from the Circuit in Fig. 4,
the Flying Inductor Converter - A Multilevel Current
Converter
At the following, the paper presents a new multilevel current converter.
3. THE PRPOSED MULTILEVEL CURRENT CONVERTER
3. 1 The Proposed Topology
The full-bridge topology is used to synthesize
a three-level square-wave output current waveform.
The full-bridge configuration of the single-phase current source converter is shown in Fig. 6.
In a single-phase full-bridge configuration, four
switches are needed. In full-bridge configuration, by
A New Topology for Multilevel Current Source Converters
5
given by:
M ode1 :
Fig.6: A Dual Derived from the Circuit in Fig. 4,
the Flying Inductor Converter - A Multilevel Current
Converter
M ode2 :
M ode3 :
turning the switches S1 and S4 on and S2 and S3 off a
current of Idc1 is available at output io1 , while reversing the operation we get current of idc1 . To generate
zero level of a full-bridge converter, the switches S1
and S3 are turned on while S2 and S4 are turned off
or vice versa. The typical output waveform of fullbridge of single-phase multilevel shown in Fig. 6, is
shown in Fig. 7.

v


 S1
vS2
vS3



vS4

v


 S1
vS2
vS3



vS4

v


 S1
vS2
vS3



vS4
=
=
=
=
0
vo (t)
vo (t)
0
=
=
=
=
−vo (t)
0
0
−vo (t)
=
=
=
=
0
vo (t)
0
−vo (t)
(1)
Fig.7: Typical Output Waveform of Three-Level
Configuration
Fig.8:
The Equivalent Circuits of the Proposed
Topology at Different Modes
The three possible levels with respect to above discussion are shown in Table 1. Note that S1 and S2
should not be open at the same time, nor should S3
and S4 . Otherwise, an open circuit would exist across
the DC current source.
Table 1: Output Current with Corresponding Conditions Switches
Modes
Conducting Switches
Output current (io1 )
1
2
1
S1 , S4
S2 , S3
S1 , S3 or S2 , S4
+Idc1
−Idc1
+Idc1
Fig. 8 shows the equivalent circuits of the proposed topology at different modes. From Fig. 8, the
instantaneous switches voltages of each module are
Using parallel connections of many converters like
the one shown in Fig. 6, we can synthesize multilevel current converter. The general function of this
multilevel current source converter is to synthesize
a desired current from several independent sources
of DC currents. Fig. 9 shows a single-phase structure of a parallel converter with a separate DC current source. By different combinations of the four
switches, S1 −S4 , each full-bridge converter can generate three different current outputs, +Idc1 , −Idc1 and
zero current. The AC outputs of each of the different
level of full-bridge converters are connected in parallel such that the synthesized current waveform is
the sum of the converter outputs. An output phase
current waveform is obtained by summing the output
currents of the converter bridges:
io (t)
= io1 (t) + io2 (t) + · · · + ioN (t)
where N is the number of parallel bridges [12].
(2)
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ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.4, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2006
In the followings, we propose new methods for determining the levels of different DC current sources,
which are used in the proposed multilevel converter.
Fig.9:
Single-Phase Parallel Multilevel Current
Source Converter
put current level needed. However, increasing the
number of power semiconductor switches increases
the size of the converter circuit, cost and causes control complexity. To provide a large number of output
levels without increasing the number of converters,
asymmetric multilevel converters can be used. If at
least one of the DC current sources is different from
the other ones, the multilevel converter shown in Fig.
9 can be called an asymmetric multilevel converter.
Another method for choosing the levels of the DC
current sources is in binary fashion, which gives an
exponential increase in the number of the overall output levels. For N such paralleled converters, with DC
current levels varying in binary fashion, the number
of levels of overall output current (S) is calculated by:
S
2N +1 − 1
=
(4)
The maximum available output current is given by
the following equation:
3. 2 Method 1
If all DC current sources in Fig. 9 are equal to Idc
the converter is then known as symmetric multilevel
current source converter. With having a number of
full-bridge converter units, this technique results in
an output current of the converter that is almost sinusoidal. The maximum output current of the N paralleled multilevel current source converter is N × Idc .
In this topology, the number of levels of overall output current (S) is given by:
S
= 1 + 2N
(3)
N (N + 1)
Idc (5)
2
For example, with only four bridges (N = 4), 31
different levels of current are obtained: 15 levels of
positive, 15 levels of negative values and zero. The
method is also capable to producing odd and even levels. For example, a 13-level multilevel current source
converter with this using method can be implemented
as shown in Fig. 11.
Maximum Output current =
For example, a 13-level multilevel current source
converter using the technique can be implemented as
shown in Fig. 10. In Fig. 10, io1 to io1 are DC current
supplies, which are from either regulated inductors or
separated DC sources.
Fig.11: The 13-Level Converter Based on the Second Proposed Method
3. 4 Method 3
In this method, we choose the levels of DC current
sources in the asymmetric multilevel current source
as follows:
Idc,1
Idc,2
Fig.10: The 13-Level Converter Based on the First
Proposed Method
3. 3 Method 2
In the proposed multilevel converter topology, the
number of power devices required depends on the out-
Idc,j
=
=
=
Idc
2Idc
(6)
(7)
Idc + 2
j−1
X
Idc,k
∀j = 3, 4, . . . , N (8)
k=1
The number of levels of the overall output current
waveform can be determined using the equation (9):
S
=
1+2
N
X
k=1
Idc,k
(9)
A New Topology for Multilevel Current Source Converters
7
and maximum available output current is given by:
Maximum Output current =
N
X
Idc,k (10)
k=1
For example, with only four bridges (N = 4), 63
different levels of current are obtained: 31 levels of
which are positive, 31 levels of which are negative
values and zero. A 13-level multilevel current source
converter using this method is shown in Fig. 12.
Fig.13:
The 13-Level Converter Based on the
Fourth Proposed Method
overall Fourier series of the output current is obtained
as follows [13]:
io (t)
=
∞
X
4Idc
[cos(nα1 )+
nπ
n=1,3,5,...
(14)
cos(nα2 ) + · · · + cos(nαM )] sin(nωt)
Fig.12: The 13-Level Converter Based on the Third
Proposed Method
3. 5 Method 4
In this method the DC current sources levels are
computed is as follows:
Idc,i
= 3i−1 Idc,1
i = 1, . . . , N
(11)
For N such paralleled converters, the number of
levels of overall output current (S) is calculated by:
S
= 3N
(12)
and the maximum available output current is given
by:
Maximum Output current =
3N − 1
Idc (13)
2
Considering the equation (13), it can be seen that
this converter can generate a larger number of levels (odd and even) with having the same number of
bridges with respect to the other multilevel converters. For example, with only four bridges (N = 4),
81 different levels of current are obtained: 40 levels
of positive, 40 levels of negative values and zero. A
13-level multilevel current source converter with this
method is also shown in Fig. 13.
3. 6 The Fourier Series of the Proposed Converters
The output current of all proposed converters can
be decomposed to the M , stepped waveforms having
the same amplitudes (Idc = 1pu), as shown in Fig, 10.
Thus, according to the superposition principal the
where the parameters α1 , α2 , . . . , αM are given by
the following equation:
µ
¶
i − 0.5
−1
αi = sin
∀i = 1, 2, . . . , M (15)
M
The THD of the output voltage waveform is defined by:
qP
∞
2
h=1,3,5,... Ih
T HD =
I
sµ ¶1
2
I0
=
−1
(16)
I1
where Ih and Io are the rms values of the h-th order
component and io (t) respectively. TheIo and I1 can
also be calculated using the equations (17) and (18):
v
u
!2
à S
√
u ∞
X cos(jαk )
2 2Idc u X
t
I0 =
(17)
π
j
j=1,3,5,...
k=1
√
I1
=
S
2 2Idc X
cos αj
π
j=1
(18)
Table 2 summarizes the number of main switches,
DC current sources, the maximum output current
and the number of levels of the N parallel multilevel
current source converter for different methods. Using
equations (1-17), all variables of the suggested converters can be determined.
Current source converters have a number of advantages:
• Current is well controlled, the DC bus inductor inherently provides short-term high-current protection;
and the long-term protection is provided by the current controlled loop.
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ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.4, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2006
The DC bus energy storage component is a large
inductor, rather than being large capacitor as in multilevel voltage converters. A large power inductor
is arguably simpler, cheaper and most importantly,
more reliable.
• Current source converters are suited to the high
power devices such as thyristors and GTOs, which
can block voltage in either direction, but conduct current only in the forward direction.
• Soft switching is either intrinsic to such devices, or
easily ensured.
Disadvantages:
• Inductors have higher losses than capacitor.
• Switch voltages are poorly defined. Most semiconductor switches tolerate transient over-current than
transient over-voltages [9].
•
Table 2:
Methods
The Summarized Results of Different
Method 1 Method 2
Method 3
Method 4
4×N
4×N
4×N
4×N
No. of DC
sources
N
N
N
N
Maximum
output
current
N × Idc
N N +1
Idc
2
No. of
Switches
Levels of 2
output
current
PN
× N + 12N +1 − 11 + 2
k=1 Idc,k
PN
k=1 Idc,k
3N −1
2 Idc
3N
Fig.14: Configuration of a Voltage Source Converter Based Shunt Active Filter
4. 2 Suggested Shunt Active Filter
Fig. 15 shows the schematic of the suggested shunt
active power filter consisting of the new multilevel
current source converter with a control unit, to solve
power quality problems. The operation of the shunt
current source multilevel inverters is based on the injection of current harmonic, iSH , which is in phase
with the load current, iLoad , thus eliminating the harmonic content of the line (supply) current iLine . Now,
suppose that the load current can be written as the
sum of the fundamental and the harmonic current as
in equation (19):
iLoad
=
iLoad,F und + iLoad,Hamonics
(19)
then the injected current by the shunt inverter should
be:
4. THE SHUNT ACTIVE FILTER BASED
ON MULTILEVEL CURRENT SOURCE
CONVERTER
iSH
= iLoad,Hamonics
(20)
with resulting the line current:
4. 1 Shunt Active Filter Principle
In recent years, the usage of modern electronic
equipment has been increasing rapidly. These electronic equipments impose nonlinear loads to the AC
main that draw reactive and harmonic current in addition to active current [14]. In order to overcome
these problems, different kinds of active power filters, based on force-commutated devices, have been
developed. Particularly, shunt active power filters,
using different control strategies, have been widely
investigated. These filters operate as current sources,
connected in parallel with the nonlinear load generating the current and the current harmonic components
required by the load. However, shunt active filters
present the disadvantages that are difficult to implement in large scale where the control is also complicated. To reduce the drawbacks, the proposed solution in this paper is to use a multilevel current source
converter. A shunt active filter consists of a controllable voltage or current source. The voltage source
converter based shunt active filter is by far the most
common type used today. This topology is shown in
Fig. 14. It consists of a DC-link capacitor C, power
electronic switch and filter inductorsLf .
iLine
iLine
=
=
iLoad − iSH
iLoad,F ound
(21)
(22)
As it is seen, the equation (22) only contains the
fundamental component of the load current and thus
free from the harmonics.
4. 3 Case Study
The industrial loads usually have complex nonlinear dynamics. In connecting nonlinearities to a power
network, they induce some undesirable distortions to
the sinusoidal signal of the network. For showing this
effect, a three phase diode rectifier is used as a nonlinear load connected to grid. Fig. 16 shows the circuit
of a three-phase diode rectifier. The input phase voltages can be written as:
va
=
vb
=
vc
=
Vm sin ωi t
¶
µ
2π
Vm sin ωi t −
3
µ
¶
2π
Vm sin ωi t +
3
(23)
A New Topology for Multilevel Current Source Converters
9
Fig.15: Suggested Shunt Active Power Filter Configuration
Fig.17: The Outputs of Three-Phase Diode Rectifier
ON switches data for different levels of multilevel converter, are stored. Fig. 20 shows the algorithm to
generate the drive signals for each module.
Fig.16: Three-Phase Diode Rectifier as a Nonlinear
Load
If the load is assumed a pure resistance, the output
current peak is:
√
3Vm
(24)
Im =
RL
In this study, the parameters
of the system are as√
sumed as: Vm = 110 2V, ωi = 100π and RL = 40Ω.
Fig. 17 shows the waveforms of input line voltages,
load current and line currents. As the Fig. 17 shows,
nonlinear loads may pollute power lines seriously with
their high levels of harmonic current and reduction in
power factor.
The ability of shunt active filters to suppress these
problems has attracted a great deal of attention to
these systems. This paper proposed a new structure for shunt active filter based on multilevel current source converter. For showing the capability of
the proposed shunt active filter, a 27 level (13 levels of positive, 13 levels of negative values and zero)
multilevel current source converter is simulated by
using of the method 4. Fig 18. shows a single-phase
structure of the multilevel converter. The converter
consists of three full-bridges with current sources Idc ,
3Idc and 9Idc (Idc = 0.3A) Table 3 shows the ON
switches look-up table of a single-phase 27-level multilevel current converter at different levels. Fig. 19
shows the control block diagram of the 27-level multilevel converter. In the duty-cycle look-up table, the
Fig.18: Single-Phase 27-Level Multilevel Current
Converter Used in the Shunt Active Filter System
Fig. 21 shows the load, line and shunt active power
filter output currents. The shunt active power filter
with multilevel current converter is able to successfully compensates reactive power and mitigate current harmonics distortions with excellent transient
performance. Figs. 22 and 23 show the power circuit
and it simulation results when the system is powered
from voltage source with inductors (a 0.1H inductor
is connected is series with the sources and other parameters same as previous).
As the Figs 22 and 23 show, the suggested shunt active filter is best suited to mitigate the girds against
the current harmonics which produced by nonlinear
loads. It is seen that the grid operates with unity
power factor.
10 ECTI TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL ENG., ELECTRONICS, AND COMMUNICATIONS VOL.4, NO.1 FEBRUARY 2006
Table 3: The ON Switches Look-Up Table of a
Single-Phase 27-Level Multilevel Current
No. Output Levels
ON Switches
1
−13Idc
S12 , S13 , S22 , S23 , S32 , S33
2
−12Idc
S11 , S13 , S22 , S23 , S32 , S33
3
−11Idc
S11 , S14 , S22 , S23 , S32 , S33
...
...
...
14
0
S11 , S13 , S21 , S23 , S31 , S33
15
Idc
S11 , S14 , S21 , S23 , S31 , S33
16
2Idc
S12 , S13 , S21 , S24 , S31 , S33
...
...
...
25
12Idc
S11 , S13 , S21 , S24 , S31 , S34
27
13Idc
S11 , S14 , S21 , S24 , S31 , S34
Fig.19: Control Diagram of the 27-Level Multilevel
Converter
Fig.21: Load, Shunt Active Filter and Line Output
Currents
Fig.20: The Algorithm to Generate the Drive Signals for Each Module
5. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a new topology for multilevel current source converters has been presented. To determine the levels of DC current sources, four different
methods have been suggested. The advantages of the
Fig.22: Power Circuit When the System is Powered
From Voltage Source With Inductors
proposed multilevel current source converter are:
• The proposed strategies generate a current with
minimum error with respect to the sinusoidal reference. Therefore, it generates very low harmonic distortion or THD.
• The suggested methods can generate a large number of levels (odd and even)
A New Topology for Multilevel Current Source Converters
11
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[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
Fig.23: Load, Shunt Active Filter and Line Output waveforms, When the System is Powered From
Voltage Source With Inductors
[8]
[9]
The devices can be switched at low frequencies;
therefore, gives the possibility of working with low
speed semiconductors, generating low losses frequency switching and higher efficiency.
• The proposed multilevel works like amplitude modulation and this fact makes the individual devices
have a much lower di/dt ratio.
• It is simple and easy to implement.
• It dose not interfere with the power distribution
system.
• The control system is simple and flexible.
• Easy to extend and modify.
• Other advantages of this converter as a core of the
shunt active power filters are:
1. Degree of the filtering is independent of the network and independent upon the generation of the reactive power
2. Selectable degree of filtering and high precision
and fast response
•
[10]
[11]
[12]
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[14] Fang Zheng Peng, John W. McKeever, and Donald J. Adams, “A Power Line Conditioner Using
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Ebrahim Babaei was born in Ahar,
Iran in 1970. He received the B.S. degree
in electronics engineering and M.S. degree in electrical Engineering both form
Faculty of Engineering, University of
Tabriz, Iran in 1992 and 2001, respectively, graduating with First Class Honors, where he is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical Engineering at the Faculty of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at University of
Tabriz, Iran. His major fields of interest include Matrix Converters, analysis and control of power converters and Multilevel
Converters. Since 2003 he joined the Faculty of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz
Professor Seyed Hossein Hosseini
was born in Marand, Iran in 1953. He
received the M.S. degree from the Faculty of Engineering University of Tabriz,
Iran in 1976, the DEA degree from
INPL, France, in 1981 and Ph.D. degree from INPL, France, in 1981 all in
electrical engineering. In 1982 he joined
the University of Tabriz, Iran, as an assistant professor in the Dept. of Elec.
Eng., from 1990 to 1995 he was associate professor in the University of Tabriz, since 1995 he has
been professor in the Dept. of Elec. Eng. University of Tabriz.
From Sept. 1990 to Sept. 1991 he was visiting professor in the
University of Queensland, Australia, from Sept. 1996 to Sept.
1997 he was visiting professor in the University of Western Ontario, Canada. His research interests include Power Electronic
Converters, Matrix Converters, Active Hybrid Filters, Application of Power Electronics in Renewable Energy Systems and
Electrified Railway Systems, Reactive Power Control, Harmonics and Power Quality Compensation Systems such as SVC,
UPQC, FACTS devices.
G.B. Gharehpetian
was born in
Tehran, in 1962. He received his BS and
MS degrees in electrical engineering in
1987 and 1989 from Tabriz University,
Tabriz, Iran and Amirkabir University
of Technology (AUT), Tehran, Iran, respectively, graduating with First Class
Honors. In 1989 he joined the Electrical Engineering Department of AUT as a
lecturer. He received the Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering from Tehran University, Tehran, Iran, in 1996. As a Ph.D. student he has received scholarship from DAAD (German Academic Exchange
Service) from 1993 to 1996 and he was with High Voltage Institute of RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany. He held the position
of Assistant Professor in AUT from 1997 to 2003, and has been
Associate Professor since 2004. Dr. Gharehpetian is a Senior
Member of Iranian Association of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IAEEE), member of IEEE and member of central
board of IAEEE. Since 2004 he is the Editor-in-Chief of the
Journal of IAEEE. The power engineering group of AUT has
been selected as a Center of Excellence on Power Systems in
Iran since 2001. He is a member of this center and since 2004
the Research Deputy of this center. Since November 2005 he is
the director of the industrial relation office of AUT. He is the
author of more than 140 journal and conference papers. His
teaching and research interest include power system and transformers transients, FACTS devices and HVDC transmission.